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What We’re Reading: April 18, 2016

5 minute read

Introducing a new segment to the Twenty Over Ten blog! Each week, the marketing team will report on what we’re reading, why it is important, and how you can take advantage or implement the strategy yourself!

L’Oreal is a prime example of adapting an emerging trend to fit a product offering. With a noticeable increase in wearable fitness tracking accessories, L’Oreal launched a washable patch that users attach to their skin to track sun exposure. The sun exposure rate is monitored by scanning the patch into L’Oreal’s mobile application. Pairing a product with a mobile application is an interactive marketing tool and the future of B2C product marketing.

Lately, there has been a steady decline in millennial TV viewership. This is due to an increase in online streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and online streaming from cable providers. Taking steady note of this shift in viewership was Twtiter. Twitter, experiencing a decline itself, decided to harvest this streaming power by bidding to stream Thursday night NFL games. Facebook also recently launched a live streaming feature which allows users to live stream an event. Twitter wanted to utilize that capability while still providing users with the same ability to tweet real-time events.

The fast food giant, Sonic, is shaking up their social media strategy with square shakes. Increasing their Instagram presence, Sonic decided to create a new customized drink that is physically similar to the layout of Instagram. Square in stature, this drink has the ability to be customized via Instagram and personally delivered to a user’s location at the music festival- Coachella. A takeaway from this innovative social media strategy is do not be afraid to be different! Most fast food restaurants are known to lack customization. Stand out from the crowd by meeting customers needs in a creative new way.

How effective can a disappearing video be? A lot more effective than most marketers originally thought. The mobile photo-sharing platform, Snapchat, has experienced a huge increase in usage in the last two years. Likewise, an increase in promotional filters has also made the application more popular. Additionally, the real time capabilities of Snapchat require a user’s attention for about only ten seconds. This is an interesting dynamic for potential advertisers because although there is a tight time restriction, the recall response is high. The lesson here is Snapchat is different than other social media platforms. They took a chance and began accepting promoters, and the result has shocked everyone.

Social media isn’t just for millennials anymore! 77% of adults aged 30-49 engage in social media. This is due to a cultural shift from one-dimensional communication channels into conversational commerce. More people are spending their free time on conversational platforms as opposed to viewing television or other forms of traditional advertisements. And this is great for businesses! Social media marketing also eliminates the trade barriers. For example, having an advertisement on social media can serve as a direct link to purchase the produce. This increases point of sales purchases. The main takeaway from this article is social media marketing is not something to be overlooked. With years of successful promotional campaigns combined with a changing cultural landscape, social media has rightfully earned itself a spot in the marketing world!